


Your mother was the bravest woman I ever met

by Maggie_GoldenStar1530



Series: Dar'Manda One Shots [9]
Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Foundlings are the future, Gen, Mandalorian Adoption (Star Wars), Mandalorians make good parents, is anyone gonna raise that?, no beta we die like stormtroopers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-15 09:20:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28561194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maggie_GoldenStar1530/pseuds/Maggie_GoldenStar1530
Summary: A snippet of how Kalni (an OC from the Dar'Manda series) found her youngest daughter Upio. Sometimes bravery and being strong is in walking away.
Series: Dar'Manda One Shots [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1753318
Comments: 7
Kudos: 16





	Your mother was the bravest woman I ever met

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kmandofan90](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kmandofan90/gifts).



Rima knew that it was a risk to let Kalni go along on the supply run. Hell, Arkil had opened the betting on whether or not Kalni would come back with a foundling at 2:1 odds.

But Kalni was running low on specific things, she knew what the tailor shop needed better than anyone, and she could negotiate. All of these were good reasons for her to go. The reasons for not letting her go were, well-

Rima sighed, looking at Kalni and the tiny baby held in her arms. “Where did you find that?”

“She’s mine.” Kalni said firmly.

“That’s not what I asked. Where did you find her?” Rima reached behind her without looking to give Arkil a smack on the helmet. He was giggling madly. Kalni wasn’t technically a member of Clan Lytau, but she and her ad Eatha were the only ones of their clan in the Covert, so Lytau had swept them up when no one was looking.

And he’d just won a lot of credits.

Kalni shifted slightly, then squared up. “There was a woman…”

She’d noticed the woman right away when she went into the market plaza. Watching her from between two stalls, something hidden in her shawl. Her face was thin and desperate.

Kalni kept at least part of her awareness of the woman as she went through the stalls, making her choices. She was known for wandering off, for not always paying attention to where she was going when something caught her eye, but she always had a solid awareness of what was happening around her. She was still a warrior, even if her preferred weapons were shears and needles and thread.

And the woman watched, the agony of a decision she didn’t want to make written on her face, written in the hunch of her body, and in the grasping of her fingers on the small bundle wrapped in her shawl.

Finally, curiosity got the better of Kalni, just as bravery got the better of the woman. Kalni drifted closer to where the woman was hiding and the woman beckoned her closer. Kalni paused to get a good look around and to loosen her blaster. This could be an ambush. The woman could be bait.

“Please….” If this was an ambush, the woman was the best actress in the parsec.

Kalni stepped into the space and followed the woman into an alley.

“My mam said… she said that Mandalorians would take children.”

“We don’t take them. If we find a child that needs a home…”

“That’s what I…. hoped.” The woman opened her shawl and Kalni’s heart stopped at the tiny baby in the woman’s arms. “She’s…. I can’t keep her.”

The baby opened her eyes, and Kalni was lost. “...why…”

“My husband… he says we couldn’t afford another mouth to feed. He told me… please. I’m not strong enough. Make her strong.” The woman put the baby in Kalni’s arms. “She needs to be strong. My mam said Mandalorians loved children, would make them strong and brave.”

Kalni nodded as she put a finger out and the baby took it in her tiny fist. “What’s her name?”

“....he didn’t allow me to give her a name…” the woman stroked the baby’s cheek. “But I called her Upio in secret.”

“Upio.” Kalni said. “Upio. What’s your name? When she asks?”

The woman closed her eyes and sagged. “You’ll take her?”

“Yes. I will raise her to be a warrior.” Kalni grasped the woman’s arm. “And to be as brave as her mother.”

“Tell her… tell her I did my best for her.”

“I will. I _promise_. Your name?”

“Ansera.” The woman bent down and gave the baby- Upio- a kiss, murmured a prayer, then fled into the crowd.

Kalni looked down at the baby, and the baby looked up at her, big eyes blinking. Kalni sighed quietly. She needed to get her purchases loaded on the ship, she needed to make sure she had formula and diapers and whatever else a baby needed for the trip back home. But first-

She touched the forehead of her helmet to the little face. Upio reached up to grasp at the helmet.

“Ni kyr'tayl gai sa'ad, Upio.” _I know your name as my child._

__

**Author's Note:**

> Art by Kmandofan90. It's not intended for this work, but it works and she was generous enough to lend it for this purpose. 
> 
> Kmandofan90 asked how Kalni got Upio. This is how.


End file.
